Review - Hamburger Mary's Chicago (Originally posted October 9, 2009)

So I went out this past Saturday to a restaurant I have never been to before. It's called Hamburger Mary's Chicago and as you can imagine they specialize in hamburgers. Go figure.

It is located at 5400 N. Clark St. in Chicago. I don't usually go out in that area but there was a small cabaret show playing at it's upstairs bar, Mary’s Attic that I went to go see and I thought I would give the restaurant a go. I do like my burgers so I thought it would be a good opportunity to try some place new.

The restaurant is split into two different sections. When you first come in to the main entrance, which is right on the north west corner of Clark and Balmoral, you are greeted with a small dinning area with booths lining the walls and tables set up in the center of the room. This was the main dinning room which is just one of two areas you can sit in. I actually ended up sitting in the room next door which is called The Rec Room.

The Rec Room is really just a bar with tables and stools that you can sit at and order your meal from there as well. Although the main dinning area sees more patrons coming to eat The Rec Room was fun to sit in. There were flat screen televisions on most of the walls so it was very easy to follow what ever was on (collage football in my case). The room is not too large so it wasn't hard to hold a conversation or just enjoy the decor. However the place was not packed with people so I imagine that if the place was really busy it would be just as noisy as any other bar. It was a little darker in The Rec Room than in the main dinning but it was bright enough. Of course they had the mandatory foosball table and electronic dart board that every good bar needs but neither were being used while I was there.

My waitress was friendly and fast. I got my food very quickly only waiting a short time before the appetizer came and then the meal shortly after the appetizers were done. I also never had to ask for a new soda as she was there to ask me if I needed a new one before I was out.

I started off with their appetizer 'Macho Nachos', which consisted of tri-color nacho chips covered with homemade chili, melted cheese, diced tomatoes, black olives and jalapenos served with sour cream and salsa. I asked for it sans onions, not a big fan of onions. I have to admit it was pretty good. I was a little skeptical about how they might be but as it turns out I really liked them. The best part of them really was that whenever I tried to find some chips that didn't have a lot of topping on it.....I couldn't. Seems like they must have layered the topping on with chips in between. It wasn't skimpy in the least and the chili was very tasty.

For the dinner I had, well a burger. They have lots of other food on the menu but I figured, when in Rome. I had their burger Buffy (the burger slayer) which was doused with red wine sauce, covered in garlic aioli (sauce made from garlic, olive oil and usually egg) and topped with Swiss cheese on a toasted garlic bun. My preference in cooking is rare which they accommodated. It was very good. I liked the combination of the different flavors and thought they did go along very well together. I also ordered coleslaw which was also very good but different. Besides what you usually find in coleslaw there was chopped sweet red peppers and celery. I liked both the burger and the coleslaw very much. However I was not overly impressed by their fries.

I like my fries to be crisp but fluffy or greasy and fluffy. The fries I got were kind of dried out and I think over cooked a bit. I found myself using ketchup on them which I don't usually do. I'm kind of a fry snob and like fries just for their own taste with a little salt added in. I ended up leaving about half of the fries as I did not like them very much. I may have had a bad batch so if I get to go back I may have to give them a second try.

Over all I liked eating there. It was fun and the service was both quick and friendly. With the exception of the fries I thought the food was pretty good and would definitely warrant me going there again. Because of the fries I'm going to give the restaurant a 7 out of 10.

It's a fun place and worth you giving it a try.